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Chhattisgarh India

Map indicating the location of Chhattisgarh

Coordinates:

Area| | 135,194 km (0 sq mi)

Capital| | Raipur

Largest city| | Raipur

District(s)| | 18

Language(s)| | Chhattisgarhi,Hindi

Governor| style="border-top: 2px dotted #DCDCDC;" | Ekkadu Srinivasan Lakshmi Narasimhan

Chief Minister| | Raman Singh

| | 2000-11-01

Legislature (seats)| | Unicameral (90)

ISO abbreviation| |

Website: www.chhattisgarh.nic.in

Coordinates:

Chhattisgarh (Chhattisgarhi/Hindi: छत्तीसगढ़, IPA: [tʃʰət̪t̪iːsgəɽʰ]) pronunciation (helpinfo), a state in central India, formed when the sixteen Chhattisgarhi-speaking southeastern districts of Madhya Pradesh gained statehood on November 1, 2000. Raipur serves as its capital. It is the 10th largest state of India by area. Chhattisgarh takes its name from 36 (Chattis is thirty-six in Hindi and Garh is Fort) princely states in this region from very old times.^{controversial, many stories}

It borders Madhya Pradesh on the northwest, Maharashtra on the west, Andhra Pradesh on the south, Orissa on the east, Jharkhand on the northeast and Uttar Pradesh on the north.

The Chhattisgarhi language, part of the East-Central group of Indo-Aryan languages, is the predominant language in the region. It is often regarded by linguists to be a dialect of Hindi, which is the official language of the state. People in southern Chhattisgarh, Bastar, speak dialects of Dravidian languages.

Geography

The north and south parts of the state are hilly, while the central part is a fertile plain. Forests cover roughly forty-four percent of the state.

The northern part of the state lies on the edge of the great Indo-Gangetic plain: The Rihand River, a tributary of the Ganges, drains this area. The eastern end of the Satpura Range and the western edge of the Chota Nagpur Plateau form an east-west belt of hills that divide the Mahanadi River basin from the Indo-Gangetic plain.

The central part of the state lies in the fertile upper basin of the Mahanadi and its tributaries, with extensive rice cultivation. The upper Mahanadi basin is separated from the upper Narmada basin to the west by the Maikal range, part of the Satpuras, and from the plains of Orissa to the east by ranges of hills.

The southern part of the state lies on the Deccan plateau, in the watershed of the Godavari River and its tributary the Indravati River.

The Mahanadi is the chief river of the state. Other main rivers are Hasdo (a tributary of Mahanadi), Rihand, Indravati, Jonk and Arpa.

Districts

Main article: Districts of Chhattisgarh

Chhattisgarh is divided into 16 districts: Bastar, Bilaspur, Dantewada (South Bastar), Dhamtari, Durg, Janjgir-Champa, Jashpur, Kanker (North Bastar), Kawardha, Korba, Koriya, Mahasamund, Raigarh, Raipur, Rajnandgaon, and Surguja.

In May 2007, 2 new districts have been constituted by the statement government to enable better administration. These new districts are Bijapur and Narayanpur. This makes the total count of districts in Chhattisgarh as 18.

Politics

Ajit Jogi, the first Chief Minister of the state, is Chhattisgarh's most prominent and controversial politician. There are 4 major political parties and many independents with followers in the state:

• Bharatiya Janata Party (Currently holding the majority in the Legislative Assembly of Chhattisgarh)
• Indian National Congress(Indira) (Held the majority the last time around)
• Bahujan Samaj Party
• Gondwana Party

There is a heavy presence of armed insurgent communists (known as Naxalites) in southern and northern part of the state almost running parallel Government in the hinterland – Chhattisgarh is as of 2006 the most Naxalite-affected state in the country.

History

Main article: History of Chhattisgarh

Recent events

• On September 3, 2005, twenty policemen were killed by a mine in the district of Bijapur. The mine had been laid there by Naxalite rebels, who have joined with the rebels in Nepal. (20 indische Polizisten durch Mine getötet, September 4, 2005, Neue Zürcher Zeitung).
• On February 28, 2006, 55 civilians were killed in Dantewada District after their trucks were blown up by Naxalites, one of the deadliest such Naxalite attacks in India's history. Smaller numbers of people have continued to perish in continued attacks related to the Naxalite rebellion. (Fear triggers exodus in India's Maoist Badlands, March 8, 2006, ABC News).
• On March 25, 2006, thirteen civilians were killed in Kanker District after a land mine detonated underneath their jeep. Naxalite rebel involvement has been alleged by local police. (India landmine blast 'kills 13', March 25, 2006, BBC News).
• On April 28, 2006, thirteen out of a group of fifty hostages were found partly beheaded in Dantewada District. Naxalite rebels are suspected in the hostage-taking and the massacre. (India rebels 'kill 13 villagers', April 28, 2006, BBC News).
• Recently a law has been passed requiring conversion from one religion to another to be notified to the authorities 30 days beforehand. Citizens who fail to do this can face up to a year in jail. According to the BBC "conversion is a major political issue in the state."
• On March 15, 2007, at least 55 police officers were reported killed in an attack on a police outpost in the village of Radi Bodli by Naxalite Maoist rebels.^[1] The dead included 15 personnel of the Chhattisgarh Armed Forces and 34 Special Police Officers (SPOs). 12 others were injured in the attack.^[2] The total forces present during the time of the attack were 23 regular officers and 55 SPOs.^[3]

  Economy

  Chhattisgarh's gross state domestic product for 2004 is estimated at 12 billion USD in current prices. After partition, this mineral-rich state produces 30% of the output of the old Madhya Pradesh state. The state has immense potential to graduate into the league of advanced states provided it gets a far sighted political leadership and adequate planning especially in the area of higher studies as well as technical education.
  
  The state's economy is further fuelled by the presence of the Bhilai Steel Plant, S.E.C.Railway Zone, BALCO Aluminium Plant (Korba), and NTPC Korba (National Thermal Power Corporation Ltd) and S.E.C.L. (South Eastern Coalfields Limited).
  
  The city of Korba is a hub for power generation, from where the electricity is supplied to several other Indian states. Chattisgarh's southern area consists of iron ore available where NMDC is excavating to meet the iron demand in India and as well sending to countries like Japan. NMDC is located in Dantewara district. Recently ESSAR has started transporting iron ore through pipe lines to Vizag.
  
  The state is also launching an ambitious plan to become biofuel self-sufficient by 2015 by planting crops of jatropha.^[4]

  Education

  Educational institutions set-up by the state government are the prevalent education providers in the state from elementary schools to degree colleges. In these institutions and schools (other than engineering and medical colleges), the dominant medium of education is official hindi.
  
  In Chhattisgarh, there are seven government recognized universities:
  • Chhattisgarh Swami Vivekanand Technical University, Bhilai
  • Guru Ghasidas University, Bilaspur
  • Hidayatullah National Law University, Raipur
  • Indira Gandhi Agricultural University, Raipur
  • Indira Kala Sangeet University, Khairagarh
  • Kushabhau Thakre Patrakarita Avam Jansanchar University, Raipur
  • Pandit Ravishankar Shukla University, Raipur
  • Pandit Sundarlal Sharma University, Bilaspur
  Most the colleges in the state are affiliated to one of these universities.

  Transportation

  The rail network in Chattisgarh is centered on Bilaspur, which is zonal headquarters of South East Central Railway of Indian Railways. Other main railway junctions include Raipur, Durg and Champa. These junctions are well connected to all the major cities of India.
  
  The roadways infrastructure is also slowly picking up in the state. The National Highway 6 (Bombay to Kolkata) passes through the state. The state also hosts National Highway 43 which starts from Raipur and goes up to Vishakhapatnam. National Highway 16 from Hyderabad ends at Bhopalpatnam in Dantewada district. The state has 11 National Highways (2,225 kilometres).
  
  The air infrastructure as of now in the state is minor. Raipur, the capital city, is the sole commercially operating airport of the state. However, of late, Raipur has air links to top four cities of the country i.e. Delhi, Bombay, Kolkata, and Chennai. The state, however, has airport in Bilaspur and air strips in Bhilai, Jagdalpur, Sarguja, Korba. Its rural connectivity is also improving.

  Culture

  Chhattisgarh is one of the rapidly developing states of India. The per capita income is around 250 USD as of 2001, but that is in part due to the neglect and under investment during it being the part of Madhaya pradesh. Only 20% of population lives in urban areas.
  
  Chhattisgarh has a very rich Cultural heritage. One can see here decorative pieces carved on wood, Bamboo furniture, Clay pieces, idols carved on wood etc.
  
  Chattisgarh has its own dance styles, cuisine, & music. Pandwani a musical narration of the epic Mahabharata, Raut Nacha(The folk dance of cowherds), Panthi and Soowa dance styles are very popular in the region. Teejan Bai, the Pandwani artist was awarded Padmashree for her contribution to Pandwani dance style. Ritu Verma is also a well known name.
  
  Chhattisgarh has rich traditional folk songs among which sohar, bihav & Pathoni songs are very famous.
  
  Sohar songs are related to child birth.
  
  Bihav songs are related to marriage celebration. The main parts of Bihav songs are Chulmati, Telmati, Maymouri, Nahdouri, Parghani, Bhadoni and other songs related to Bhanver, Vidai songs.
  
  Pathoni songs are related to Gouna that is departure of bride to bridegroom home.
  
  There is little presence of chhattisgarhi music and other cultural material on the internet. However, some songs can be found at [1].
  
  The people of this region are very fond of colours. The dresses they wear are all colourful. Women too wear sarees with Kardhani. In rural areas, women used to wear mala (garland) made of one rupee coins. Though this has gone out of trend these days.
  
  The people of this region are also known for creating humour out of language. Comical plays are very popular and are worth watching. The people also have a great tendency towards adopting new trends and life styles. Chhattisgarh thus is multicultural for people from all over the world have come and settled in this region.
  
  Chhattisgarhi people are also known for their simplicity, kind hearted ness and adaptability. And this is the actual culture of Chhattisgarh.
  
  On Sundays, markets are arranged in some prominent villages. Chhattisgarh has identified and is developing ethnic villages and private sector is encouraged for proper maintenance and professional site management of important heritage sites/monuments.
  
  The state hosts many religious sects like Satnami, Kabirpanth, Ramnami Samaj, and others which originated as reaction to caste-based Hinduism practised by outsiders coming to the state.
  
  Chhattisgarh is a favorite of anthropologists and sociologists due to its relevant profile.
  • Champaran (Chhattisgarh) is a small town that has religious significance as the birth place of the Saint Vallabhacharya.

  Status of women

  In many ways, the women of Chhattisgarh enjoy a unique position within India. The proportion of women in the population is second highest among states in India (commendable). The percentage of females is higher than males in the rural population as compared to the urban.
  
  The village society is little affected by classical doctrines of Hinduism and most of the customs and cultural practices are unique. As such rural women here are though poor but are more independent, hardy, better organised and socially more vociferous and command more power in general compared to their counterparts in other parts of India, so much so that they can choose and even terminate a marriage at will. Most of the old temples here are related to women power (eg Shabari, Mahamaya, Danteshwari).
  
  However, women generally marry at a younger age than elsewhere. Women in aged between 20 to 49 years were found to have married at median age of 15.4 years; and 34% of girls aged between 15 to 19 years are already married (according to Government). Further, there is widespread social belief in witchcraft in Chhattisgarh. Women are supposed to have access to supernatural forces, and often accused of witchcraft and called 'Tonhi' by people jealous of them. They are barbarically persecuted.
  
  Today, with increasing urbanization, industrialization and in- migration , many of the cultural concomitants of female subservience, common to mainstream India but hitherto unknown in Chhattisgarh, have started creeping in here.
  
  The gender ratio (number females per 1000 males) has been steadily declining over the century in Chhattisgarh: 1046 in year 1901, 1032 in 1941, 996 in 1981 and 990 in 2001; but is better than the ratio for India: 972 in 1901, 945 in 1941, 934 in 1981 and 933 in 2001.
  
  For further information, this 103 page report titled 'A situational analysis of women and girls in Chhattisgarh' can be seen which has been prepared in year 2004 by 'National Commission of Women', a statutory body belonging to government of India. . Chhattisgarh women are a great workforce capable of, rather doing on day to day basis very hard and tough work.

  Language

  Main article: Chhattisgarhi language

  Chhattisgarhi is a dialect of Hindi language or a language in its own right and it is spoken and understood by majority of people in Chhattisgarh. Chhattisgarhi was also known as Khaltahi to surrounding Hill-people and as Laria to Oriya speakers. In Korea, Surguja and Jashpur, it appears as Surgujia sub-dialect. Including Chhattisgarhi, a total of 93 dialects or languages are spoken in the state which together represent all three of India's major language families except Tibeto-Burman: Munda (Austro-Asiatic languages), Dravidian and Indo-European. All these dialects use the devanagari script of Hindi irrespective of the language group to which they belong. Chhattisgarhi is mainly an IndoEuropean dialect/language with heavy presence of vocabulary and linguistic features from Munda and Dravidian languages.

  Classification

  H.L.Shukla has given following classification to place some of dialects of Chhattisgarh in Munda, Dravidian and IndoEuropean language families:

  Munda

  0)Pre-Munda | 1)Pre-Munda (Southern) 2)Pre-Munda (Northern) | | 1)Gadba 2)Kharia 1)Korku 2)Mawasi 3)Nihali 4)Pre-Kherwari | 1)Korba 2)Bidaho | 1)Nagesia 2)Sounta or Toori 3)Majhi 4)Majhwar 5)Kherwari

  Dravidian

  0)Pre-Dravid | 1)South-Central 2)Central 3)Northern | | | 1)Dormi 2)Dandami-Maria 3)Bhuria 4)Abujh-Maria 1)Parji or Dhurbi 1)Kurukh or Oraon

  Indo-European

  0)Indo-European | 0)Pre-Aryan | 1)Half-Magadhi 2)Magadhi 3)Pijani | | | 1)Eastern Hindi 1)Oriya 1)Halbi 2)Sadri | | 1)Chhattisgarhi 1)Bhatri

  Language Extinction Issue

  Since Sanskritized Khari Boli or Hindi is the language of India (and Chhattisgarh) for official use like recruitment, education and there is lack of local people (at least from all ethno-language groups) in the state/local administration; there is ongoing change in the linguistic profile of the state accelerated with more interaction with outside world and desire to get developed.
  
  In northern Chhattisgarh, dialects from all these three language groups are in use today; in middle part of Chhattisgarh, only Indo-European dialects have survived; and in southern Chhattisgarh, Dravidian and Indo-European dialects are in use.
  
  According to H.L. Shukla: Munda dialects are progressing to the stage of becoming extinct; among Dravidian dialects, Parji is also facing extinction problem, Kurukh (Oraon) and Gondi are struggling; and IndoEuropean dialects are in the process of losing their features differentiating them from official Hindi, Khari Boli.

  Munda Language Family

  According to 1971 census of India, Korku was the major Munda dialect spoken by more than 200,000 people (It is not clear whether this count is for whole India or is specific to Chhattisgarh). Korku, Kharia and Korba are major Munda dialects in use in Chhattisgarh.
  
  Other than these three, Muasi, Toori (in Raigarh), Nihali-Mankari, Khaerwari, Birhord, Kodaku (Sarguja), Dhelki, Mahto, Kora-Majhi, Munda, Mundari and Santhali are other Munda dialects spoken in Chhattisgarh which are either sub-dialects of above stated three dialects or are different but in the stage of extinction.
  
  The only known speaker of Gadba, a Munda dialect spoken in Bastar district, died at the age of 80 some years back, as noted by H.L.Shukla.

  Dravidian Language Family

  According to 1971 census of India, Kurukh or Oraon was mother-tongue of 300,609 people in Chhattisgarh and there were around 30,000 speakers of Parja or Dhurbi.
  
  Gondi is the Dravidian language spoken by Gond tribals who call themselves Koitor or Koitol and therefor H.L. Shukla has called their language Koitor. H. L. Shukla identifies dialects such as Dormi, Dandami-Maria, Bhuria, Abujh-Maria, Koya, Ghotul-muriya and others under this language. According to 1961 census of India, there were 3,900,000 Koitor or Gond tribals in India. Two thirds of these Gond/Koitor tribals were distributed over Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh according to 1971 census. As of now, almost more than half of these tribals use the dialects in use in their respective areas (other than Koitor). (Mr. H.L.Shukla found that Near Bhopal (capital of Madhyapradesh) which was once the stronghold of Koitor people, one cannot hear Koitor dialect in the circumference of 100 km).

  Indo-European Languages

  Among 93 dialects spoken in Chhattisgarh, 70 are classified as belonging to the Indo-European language family. Under Chhattisgarhi group, the dialects spoken by Agariya, Binjhwari, Baigani, Bhuliya, Lariya, Dhanwar, Panka, Dindwar and many other tribals are included.
  
  Sadri is the dialect understood by many of the different tribal groups. Sadri is the name given to the Indo-European dialect that is used by tribal people, when they do not use their own dialect, to communicate with other people. Sadri is in use from Chhattisgarh and Orissa to West-Bengal. Similarly, Halbi is understood by many of the different tribal groups in southern Chhattisgarh (earlier there were many different opinions about the language family of Halbi, but now it is usually accepted as an Indo-European dialect) - in 1951 census, it was found that more than 99% of Halbi speakers can speak at-least two dialects.

  Notes

  1. ^ "Maoist Rebels Kill 49 Police Officers in India's Chhattisgarh", Bloomberg News, 2007-03-15. Retrieved on 2007-03-15. 
  2. ^ "Chhattisgarh Naxals attack toll rises to 49", PTI, 2007-03-15. Retrieved on 2007-03-15. 
  3. ^ "Naxals kill 50 security personnel in Chhattisgarh9{Lead: Chhattisgarh Naxal attack)

|url=[2] |publisher=DailyIndia.com |date=2007-03-15 |accessdate=2007-03-15".Template error: argument title is required. 
4. ^ Indian State to Plant 160 Million Jatropha Plants in Quest for Biofuel Self-Sufficiency (April 04 2006). Retrieved on 2006-11-15.